Carleton University graduate student Seyedomid Ahmadinejad is working to generate sustainable energy from brewery wastewater using reactors in the Carleton labs.
Working with local business and Carleton graduate owned-Dominion Brewery, Ahmadinejad plans to fix gaps within pre-existing research and new technologies around renewable energy and beer wastewater,
The Charlatan spoke with Ahmadinejad to learn more about his research.
The Charlatan (TC): What was your research process for this project?
Seyedomid Ahmadinejad (SA): Before coming here, I had another Masters in environmental engineering and I was working in the industry. I wanted to improve my knowledge in my field, so I decided to get another Masters of Science at Carleton.
I realized one of the gaps in the research of renewable energy from wastewater is that nobody uses real brewery wastewater in their studies using this technology.
We know that Canada loves beer. Every one litre of beer produces about ten litres of wastewater. That’s a huge amount. It has lots of organic compounds that are biodegradable and can be used in our technology using its microorganisms. That’s why we decided to go with brewery wastewater. I started getting samples from Dominion City and I started doing my experiments.
TC: Does the quality of the beer or ingredients used in its compounds impact the effectiveness of the energy it generates?
SA: The simple answer is yes. When you use synthetic wastewater in the lab it is not like real-world scenarios. We wanted to have real brewery wastewater with challenges that will produce findings that are more accurate and comprehensible.
TC: What was the most difficult obstacle you had to overcome while working on this project?
SA: The challenge with this process was using real brewery wastewater and this technology, which is so sensitive. Also, the duration of these experiments – that’s one whole year of experiments. Most studies last a maximum of two or three months, but this was a significant duration of time.
SA: Dominion City Brewery’s beer was very good quality and the people there were very nice. I realized the owner of the company was a Carleton graduate and maybe that was the reason they helped me a lot.
I worked in the beer industry before and I know how some industries think of researchers. The beer industry may think there is no money in this research, there is no benefit for them, but Dominion City encourages me all the time.
TC: What do you envision for the beer industry’s future in connection to renewable energy?
SA: We are facing challenges providing the energy demands of the world. Biogas has presented itself as an alternative. It can address waste management challenges and it also reduces greenhouse emissions.
In past decades, there has been an expansion of the biogas industry, but still only 13 per cent of the capacity in Canada has been utilized. They can use biogas to conduct electricity, as a renewable fuel, and they can sell this energy to other sectors.
TC: How did you arrive at this prototype for the biogas? What kind of resources did you need?
SA: NRC (National Research Council Canada) helped us in designing these reactors and my professor Dr. Abid Hussain’s main focus is on this technology. We have several of these reactors in our lab that we use for brewery wastewater. There were elements we needed to design and my research colleagues helped me a lot to help me build and design this reactor, because this is the main component of our system.
TC: What would you most want to tell people about sustaining the environment?
SA: We know humans are destroying the Earth and its environment. Most people don’t care about the water here because they have so much of it. This wasn’t the case in my country [Iran] — people were considerate about water. That’s why I want people here to care more about the beautiful environment here.
TC: What’s your favourite beer?
SA: Molson is really good. And, of course, Dominion City. If you haven’t tried their beers, do it. They have a good place there too, to hang out with your friends and enjoy your time there.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image by Terence Ho.
